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What's New
with Cyndia Sieden
March 30, 2011
NEITHER
U.S. Stage Premiere
LIBRETTO BY SAMUEL BECKETT
MUSIC BY MORTON FELDMAN
"SIEDEN WAS A WONDER."
--Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times
"There was encouraging evidence on Friday night that
the struggling New York City Opera is making smart moves and
continuing to rebound. It was the premiere of "Monodramas," a triple
bill of one-act works that are not operas in any traditional sense.
Before the performance so many ticket buyers, including noticeable
numbers of young people, were lined up in the lobby of the David H.
Koch Theater waiting to get inside that the curtain had to be
delayed more than 20 minutes to accommodate them.
As presented here, in a surreal and visually
beautiful production by Michael Counts, these strange and strikingly
diverse monodramas, each a monologue for soprano and orchestra, made
for an engrossing evening of musical drama....
The second line of the "Neither" libretto — "from
impenetrable self to impenetrable unself by way of neither" —
conveys the mix of what seems to be acute observation and complete
uncertainty in Beckett’s phrases. Yet Feldman savors every word of
this text in his elemental and obsessively repetitive music. The
soprano must deliver the words in syllabic utterances, often on high
sustained notes that hover above the staff, making it almost
impossible for the text to be clear. The soprano Cyndia Sieden was
dazzling here, singing with uncanny focus, impressive stamina and
ethereal beauty.
The orchestral music in the first part of the work
gurgles at an almost timeless pace: a primordial pool of heaving
chords and twisted strands of notes. At one point the soprano
becomes fixated on a rhythmically steady nine-note melodic line, a
phrase the orchestra picks up and churns out, over and over.
To stage this piece Mr. Counts and his team have
created a room that looks like a cosmic disco hall with glittering
walls and rotating mirrored cubes dangling on wires, illuminated
with a riot of colored lights. Silent characters people the stage,
including a man who flies up into the wings.
Mr. Manahan and the orchestra gave a mesmerizing
account of this fiercely original music. Ms. Sieden was a wonder."
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/28/arts/music/monodramas-new-york-city-opera-one-acts-review.html?scp=1&sq=sieden&st=cse
March 25, 2011 - April 8, 2011
http://www.nycopera.com/calendar/view.aspx?id=12524
March 22, 2011
Waiting for Beckett
NEITHER
U.S. Stage Premiere
LIBRETTO BY SAMUEL BECKETT
MUSIC BY MORTON FELDMAN
Neither
to and fro in shadow from inner to outer shadow
--
from impenetrable self to impenetrable unself by way of neither
--
as between two lit refuges whose doors once neared gently close,
once away turned from gently part again
--
beckoned back and forth and turned away
--
heedless of the way, intent on the one gleam or the other
--
unheard footfalls only sound
--
till at last halt for good, absent for good from self and other
--
then no sound
--
then gently light unfading on that unheeded neither
--
unspeakable home
—Samuel Beckett
March 25, 2011 - April 8, 2011
http://www.nycopera.com/calendar/view.aspx?id=12524
Set to a libretto by playwright Samuel Beckett, this
haunting, glacial composition challenges the luminous Cyndia
Sieden with the highest extremes of the soprano range,
investigating altered states of mind and awareness.
"It’s hard to imagine a more brilliant interpreter
than Cyndia Sieden."
--The Financial Times
January 24, 2011
A holiday bauble
Cyndia Sieden, soprano
Santa Rosa Symphony
Bruno Ferrandis, conductor
FAURE Requiem
POULENC Gloria
"Sieden elevated Poulenc’s "Gloria" with her
top-notch musicality and crystalline timbre in the upper register.
The work sparkled like a holiday bauble…"
--PressDemocrat
HEAR Cyndia at
the New York City Opera:
Morton Feldman’s Neither
George Manahan, conductor
March 25, 27, 29, 31, April 2, 8, 2011
http://www.nycopera.com/calendar/view.aspx?id=12524
Cyndia Sieden as Ariel in
The Tempest by Thomas Adès
Photo credit: Clive Barda
October 7, 2010
2010 Gramophone Award Winner!
Best Contemporary Album
Cyndia Sieden, soprano
ADÈS
The Tempest
Thomas
Adès, conductor
Chorus and Orchestra of the Royal Opera House
"...outstanding cast...[with] Cyndia Sieden as
Ariel, leaping to her stratospheric high notes with ethereal
agility. Her set pieces, such as Five fathoms deep/Your father
lies and He and your brother/Stare and shudder
beautifully capture the character’s supernatural, asexual nature.
Fiona Maddocks, The Observer
HEAR
Cyndia
Sieden sing an excerpt from The Tempest
June 30, 2010
“Groundbreaking Stuff”
Alice in Wonderland
Opera in one act and eight scenes
Music by Unsuk Chin
Book by David Henry Hwang and Unsuk Chin after Alice in
Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Wen-Pin Chien, conductor
Mira Bartov, stage director and choreographer
Rachele Gilmore, soprano "Alice"
Cyndia Sieden, soprano "Cheshire Cat"
Geneva Opera
"Alice in Wonderland is an astonishing piece!
A medley of opéra comique, musical choreography, a mixture of
modernism and classicism, a successful marriage of music and sound
effects, a schizophrenic essay on human vanity. The music was not
atonal, thank goodness and included some jazz, particularly in a
humorous solo bass clarinet - an instrument I had never seen or
heard - played in costume, next to a long bar seating six or seven
people who started moving in unison like a caterpillar to the sound
of the music. Beautifully choreographed. The sound of the clarinet
was comical and incredibly expressive and musically brilliant. There
was a sprinkling of familiar tunes such as "Twinkle Twinkle Little
Star" weaved cleverly into the score. The staging was stunning.
Alice – played by Rachele Gilmore - was fabulous both in her
interpretation and in her singing. Cyndia Sieden was a real star as
the Cheshire Cat. She has a beautiful voice as did all the character
parts. A real "happening" on stage, totally original and
groundbreaking stuff. Interesting that a city like Geneva staged
something so avant garde."
-- Celia Yves, Geneva
Hear Cyndia Sieden
January 22, 2010
PAEANS OF PRAISE!
Paeans of Praise!
“Decade In Review”
San Francisco Chronicle
“...Nicholas McGegan’s nearly annual march through the
musical bounty of Handel’s oratorios and operas....when I look back
on my year-end lists from the past decade, Philharmonia’s superb
Handel performances show up like clockwork on practically every
one.”
“Editor’s CD Review of Opera and Song”
CultureKiosque
“Adès captures the other-worldliness of Ariel with stratospheric
writing for coloratura soprano, a role in which Cyndia Sieden
excels, occasionally intelligible at heights when most sopranos have
long ceased to articulate.”
“The Very Best of the Fall Opera Season”
The New York Observer
“In two recitals, one at Carnegie Hall and one at the Madison Avenue
Presbyterian Church, Emma Kirkby created worlds of stillness
in songs of the 17th century. I can’t get out of my head her encore
at both recitals, Purcell’s Evening Hymn, which seems to go
on forever and then ends much too quickly.”
“Top CDs of 2009”
Democrat and Chronicle
“Daniel Taylor, The Voice of Bach. Taylor is one of
the few countertenors of the world, raising his voice up to the
mezzo-soprano range. The Bach selections on this disc are given an
infinite boost with Taylor’s full, resonant and unique voice.”
“Best Classical Concerts of 2009”
The Oregonian
“Orphée, Portland Opera. Phillip Glass’ operatic riff on the
Orpheus legend stood out for its eye-catching set, powerful singing
[soprano Lisa Saffer] and layered, pensive score.”
“Critics’ Pick for Best of ‘09”
The Star-Ledger
“Henry Purcell: Ten Sonatas in Four Parts, Matthew Halls
harpsichord/organ. This beautifully produced recording from a U.K.
period-strings group marked the 350th birthday of Purcell by showing
how his polyphonic intimacies remain a lyrical, hypnotic marvel.”
January 18, 2010
“GORGEOUS BUT SHOCKING”
Cyndia Sieden, soprano
Handel’s Harp
Seattle Baroque Orchestra
Stephen Stubbs, conductor
ATMA Classique
“...‘Hark, hark, he strikes the golden lyre’ from
the oratorio Alexander Balus, is a mini-banquet of sonic
color....Cyndia Sieden combines poignant expressiveness and an
improvisatory-sounding freedom while exploring, in one passage, the
creamy-caramel bottom of her range....Sieden’s descent into the
depths in Handel’s aria was not only gorgeous but shocking.”
--Gavin Borchert,
Seattle Weekly
HEAR Cyndia
BUY Handel’s Harp
"TRANSCENDENTLY BEAUTIFUL"
September 29, 2009
Cyndia Sieden, soprano “Ariel”
Thomas Adès The Tempest
Royal Opera Chorus & Orchestra, Covent Garden
EMI 6952342
OPERA NEWS’ “Critic’s Choice”
for October!
“Thomas Adès's much-anticipated opera of The
Tempest had its world premiere at the Royal Opera House, Covent
Garden, in 2004....Adès (b. 1971), a fascinating, wholly original
composer who seems to thrive on his own unpredictability, confounded
expectations yet again with a moving, deeply felt
piece...transcendently beautiful when called for.
Not all of The Tempest is easy to listen
to; extended passages are dense and uncompromising. Yet as
Shakespeare's boisterous characters move toward their ultimate
destinations of forgiveness and love, so too does Adès's score
gradually take on the comforting glow of poignancy and tonal warmth.
Adès has outdone himself in his rendering of
Ariel, the island sprite....Cyndia Sieden manages the
Olympic-caliber vocal athletics, which are just as challenging
musically and intervallically as they are in terms of register,
which is vertiginous....For her "Five fathoms deep" aria (from
Shakespeare's "Full fathom five"), Adès slows Ariel's hyperkinetic
pace down to a dirge, with each syllable sustained for several
beats....Gradually, however, the melody becomes less angular, the
harmonies turn ethereal, and the aria becomes a truly extraordinary
siren call, hypnotic and captivating.”
--Joshua Rosenblum,
Opera News
HEAR Cyndia as Ariel in The Tempest
BUY The Tempest
“THE BEST IN THE OPERA”
September 11, 2009
Cyndia Sieden, soprano “Ariel”
Thomas Adès The Tempest
Royal Opera Chorus & Orchestra, Covent Garden
EMI 6952342
“Ariel’s sexuality is transcribed in
several lovely moments including the ‘Five fathoms deep, your father
lies’ passage and the great soprano Cyndia Sieden does brilliant
work, among the best in the opera.”
--Sam Juliano,
Wonders in the Dark
HEAR Cyndia as Ariel in The Tempest
BUY The Tempest
"SO STRATOSPHERICALLY HIGH"
July 29, 2009
Cyndia Sieden, soprano “Ariel”
Thomas Adès The Tempest
Royal Opera Chorus & Orchestra, Covent Garden
EMI 6952342
GRAMOPHONE’S “CD of the month” for August!
“Cyndia Sieden finds Shakespearean depth in a role
that starts so stratospherically high as to be unintelligible. As
the tessitura gradually comes back to earth, so her Ariel becomes
ever more human, a flesh and blood creature to be pitied and
loved....For many, the most memorable writing in The Tempest
comes attached to Ariel’s vocal high-wire act. Few coloratura
sopranos are able to dispatch it like Cyndia Sieden, whose sound
lends special colour to the performance”
--John Allison, Gramophone August 2009
HEAR Cyndia as Ariel in The Tempest
BUY The Tempest
World Première Release: Adès’ The Tempest
July 23, 2009
Cyndia Sieden, soprano “Ariel”
Thomas Adès The Tempest
Royal Opera Chorus & Orchestra, Covent Garden
EMI 6952342
GRAMOPHONE’S “CD of the month” for August!
“Cyndia Sieden finds Shakespearean depth in a role
that starts so stratospherically high as to be unintelligible. As
the tessitura gradually comes back to earth, so her Ariel becomes
ever more human, a flesh and blood creature to be pitied and
loved....For many, the most memorable writing in The Tempest
comes attached to Ariel’s vocal high-wire act. Few coloratura
sopranos are able to dispatch it like Cyndia Sieden, whose sound
lends special colour to the performance”
--John Allison, Gramophone August 2009
For a
Review Copy
and/or to
Interview
Cyndia, contact us.
World Première Release: Adès’ The Tempest
June 19, 2009
Cyndia Sieden, soprano “Ariel”
Thomas Adès The Tempest
Royal Opera Chorus & Orchestra, Covent Garden
EMI 6952342
- Première live recording of 2007 Royal Opera production
- Available in U.S on June 30
“...outstanding cast...[with] Cyndia Sieden as Ariel, leaping to
her stratospheric high notes with ethereal agility. Her set pieces,
such as Five fathoms deep/Your father lies and He and your
brother/Stare and shudder beautifully capture the character’s
supernatural, asexual nature. The flourishes and ornaments in the
vocal writing have the feel of Monteverdi through a prism of
modernity. The final exchange between Ariel and the world-weary
Prospero - I’ll drown my book, I’ll break my stave - is,
properly, among the most affecting moments...”
--Fiona Maddocks,
The Observer
HEAR
Cyndia as Ariel in The Tempest
Available at www.amazon.com
Read more about Cyndia
Sieden
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